Glossary

Attempt — one sitting of one thing: a reading passage, a listening track, an essay, or a speaking test. It has a start, a submission and a mark. An attempt you have started but not submitted is still an attempt, and it resumes where you left it.

Estimated band — a 0–9 figure this product produced from your work. Not an IELTS score. See The band scale.

Diagnostic — the first measurement: a trimmed four-skill sitting — Listening, Reading, one Task 2 essay and a Speaking interview. Free on every plan. See The diagnostic.

Mock test — a full four-skill sitting — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, timed like the real exam and taken in order. Pro, one a week.

Drill — a practice task aimed at one thing, as opposed to a full-length timed attempt. "Matching headings drill" is a drill; "full passage timed" is not.

Technique — what a lesson teaches. The plan teaches a technique before drilling the question type it belongs to — true for Reading, which is the one module the plan drills this way today.

Marked — read and scored. Reading and Listening are marked by a fixed function; Writing and Speaking are marked by a language model against the band descriptors — Writing reads your essay, Speaking listens to your recording directly. "Marking" is the act; a "mark" on Free is one of your weekly essay allowance.

Report — what marking an essay or a speaking test produces: an overall band, four criteria, annotations on your own words, strengths and weaknesses. See Your writing report.

Review — what marking a reading or listening attempt produces: your answers against the key, with the evidence sentence and an explanation for each.

Study day — a calendar day, in your timezone, on which you completed an attempt or finished a lesson. The unit every streak and award is counted in. See Awards and streaks.

Streak — consecutive study days. Awards read your longest streak ever, so missing a day ends a run but never takes back an award.

The plan — the one-task-a-day schedule on Today, rebuilt from today forward every time it is read. Reads Listening, Reading and Writing bands — not Speaking. See Your study plan.

Pro — the paid plan. Removes the two meters on Free, opens your full band history, and unlocks Speaking practice and full mock tests. See Plans and limits.

Quota — what is left of a metered allowance in the current rolling window, shown with the exact day it resets.

Draft / published — whether content is visible to candidates. Candidates see published content only. See Draft and published.

Teacher — someone with a CMS role, who writes and publishes content. Teachers have no roster and no view of individual candidates; Bandzen has no concept of a class. See Getting access.